Coast Guard medevacs man 50-miles off of Chincoteague, VA

A helicopter from Air Station Atlantic City in Egg Harbor Township, NJ, hovers close to the Capt Nathan trawler 50 miles east of Chincoteague, Virginia, Sunday, March 26, 2017 (U.S. Coast Guard photograph by Coast Guard Cutter Escanaba)

Watchstanders at 5th District command center in Portsmouth received an Electronic Position Indicating Radio Beacon, (EPIRB) alert from the 75-foot trawler Capt Nathan with three people aboard.

Watchstanders diverted the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Escanaba and an MH-65D Dolphin helicopter crew from Coast Guard Air Station Atlantic City to the scene. The crew of the Escanaba established communications with the crew and discovered the captain was suffering symptoms of a stroke.

The helicopter crew arrived on scene and hoisted the man and transferred him to Cape May Airport, Cape May, New Jersey, where another helicopter crew from Air Station Atlantic City transferred the patient to AtlantiCare Regional Medical Center in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

“The quick actions and critical thinking of all Coast Guard units and the crew of the fishing boat resulted in locating the mariner and bringing him to the medical care he needed as quickly as possible,” said Petty Officer 1st Class Joe Watford, search and rescue controller at 5th District. “Cases like this prove why mariner’s should keep a properly registered EPIRB onboard their vessel.”